“Former top commander says Pentagon officials insisted he prepare for war with China,” reported by Bryan Bender, from the Boston Globe:
In 2005, the nation’s top military commander in the Pacific confronted Pentagon hawks who insisted he prepare for a future war with China, warning then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the United States was headed for disaster if it insisted on confronting the Chinese militarily.
“There were people who warned me that you’d better get ready for the shoot ’em up here because sooner or later we’re going to be at war with China,” retired Navy Admiral William J. Fallon recalled. “I don’t think that’s where we want to go. And so I set about challenging all the assumptions.”
In his first extensive interview since resigning from the Navy earlier this year, Fallon told the Globe that the US desperately needs to come up with a strategy for dealing peacefully with a rising China.
